Rome (AsiaNews) The tsunami-related death toll in southern Asia is rising by the hour. According to the latest figures, over 15,000 people were killed in 9 different countries as a result of an earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami whose waves reached as far as the shores of eastern Africa.
SRI LANKA
The government declared a state of disaster and deployed 25,000 solders to face the worst emergency in the country's history. The tsunami killed more than 6,000 people.
The Sir Lankan government has appealed for international help to distribute medicine and humanitarian assistance to the people made homeless in the hardest hit areas along the country's south-eastern coastline.
Telephone lines are down and eyewitnesses report terrible devastation. Cafes, restaurants and hotels in many affected areas have collapsed as water swirled around.
In the town of Matara, at least 200 prisoners fled from a high-security prison as inmates took advantage of the disaster.
Local police said that hundreds of people were at a weekly Sunday fair when massive waves came in and washed them away. Nothing is known of them.
INDONESIA
After Sri Lanka, Indonesia is the worst hit country. The latest figures put the death toll at 2,228 and one million displaced people, tourists included.
Hardest hit was Aceh province on the island of Sumatra, which was close to the earthquake's epicentre.
Waves, some as high as 10 metres (33 feet), wiped out entire villages. In Sigli, waves caused the collapse of the dome of the main mosque.
Information about what is happening in the province is difficult to obtain because media have not been able to work there as a result of an ongoing conflict between Indonesian forces and local Islamist-oriented separatists.
INDIA
The tsunami devastated the southern Indian coastline killing so far 2,284 people. Hardest hit is the south-eastern state of Tamil Nadu with about 800 people dead.
In the state capital of Chennai (formerly known as Madras), hospitals are overflowing with dead bodies and the wounded.
Among the dead were schoolchildren playing cricket on the beach, parishioners at beachside church, and countless fishermen.
Local police report people are in a state of shock. Many are leaving the city moving to areas away from the sea.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, more than 40 people died after sea water gushed into villages on the coast. Hundreds are still missing, among them 400 fishermen and 200 Hindu pilgrims who had gone to the beach for an early morning ritual bath.
THAILAND
The tsunami sowed chaos in Thailand's southern tourist playground at the height of the tourist season. So far the death toll stands at 837.
The government has ordered the evacuation of the stricken areas including the beaches of Phuket Islandwhich are popular with tourists, especially diverssending in helicopters for the rescue operation. Rescue workers extracted about 70 Thai and foreign divers from the famed Emeral Cave.
MALAYSIA
More than 50 people died in Malaysia as a result of the tsunami waves.
Badly hit were the famed luxury resort islands of Penang and Langkawi - two islands closest to the epicentre of the quake. Waves overturned fishing vessels and luxury yachts devastating hotels like the Langkawi Sheraton and the Pelangi Beach Resort.
In Kelantan state, the main hospital was evacuated following tremors and about 600 patients returned only after the building was checked for damage.
MALDIVES
The Maldives, a cluster of remote Indian Ocean islands, declared a state of emergency after two thirds of the capital Malé were flooded killing 32 people.
Telecommunications links to many islands were cut, although the main international airport had reopened.
This is the peak tourist season.
Malé Island is only one metre (40 inches) above sea level and natural events such as this might simply submerge it for good.
MYANMAR
About 12 people died following the collapse of a bridge in Kawthaun, on the country's southern tip, after it was hit by waves caused by yesterday's tsunami, this according to officials from the Fishing Trawlers Association who spoke on condition of anonymityThe same sources said the fate of fishing trawlers out at sea at the time of the event was not yet known.Myanmar's military-run regime rarely provides details of natural or man-made disasters in the country. However, state-controlled television reports warned that aftershocks were likely to follow for three days and warned the public to take precautionary measures such as not standing under tall buildings.
SOMALIA
Even the coastline of faraway Somalia was reached by the tsunami killing nine people.
BANGLADESH
Strong quakes were recorded in Bangladesh where two people died, one of whom was a 4-year-old child. The Atiq family was travelling on a fishing boat from Kuakata to Fatrarcha when a wave hit it. Rescuers are searching for the child's brother who was also swept away into the sea.
For the US Geological Survey the quake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale. It was the fourth strongest since 1900.
A tsunami is an unusual surge of water caused by the sudden movement of the earth's crust under or near the ocean.
It can cause waves to travel up to 800 Km per hour (500 miles) reaching heights of several tens of metres. (MA)
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